By Angela Long
The couple found dead on Sunday with their two small daughters
had given detailed instructions to an undertaker the previous Friday.
More details have emerged about the tragic deaths of Adrian
and Ciara Dunne and their children, Leanne (5) and Shania (3).
A local undertaker near their home in Monageer, Co Wexford,
said she was asked to purchase plots for all the family, news media report
today. Mr and Mrs Dunne visited her office on Friday.
They also specified the clothes their daughters should
wear for burial.
The bodies of the Dunnes were found after gardai and local
priests became suspicious.
As distressed family members said they could not believe
the deaths, attention also turned to whether or not social or psychiatric
services could have stepped in.
The government has announced an official inquiry into the
deaths.
The Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, announced the
inquiry after expressing profound sympathy to the families and friends of
the Dunnes.
"The Government has agreed that as soon as the relevant
facts of this case are established, an independent inquiry will be set up," Mr
Lenihan said.
His office has sought a full report from the Health Service
Executive (HSE).
The HSE's Southern Office says there was no active social
work file on the Dunne family. They were not on the 'at risk' register of
Wexford social services.
The HSE said: "On the afternoon of Friday April 20,
the entire family attended a routine appointment with our Public Health Nursing
service for developmental checks for the children. This lasted approximately
two hours and no concerns regarding the family or the welfare of the children
arose during the visit."
However after gardai contacted the local child care manager,
she informed them that law officers had the authority to remove children
form the home if they were considered to be at risk.
The urgency of the situation was not known and the case
was put down for action on Monday morning, by which time the family were
all dead.
The Garda Commissioner has also appointed a senior officer
to investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Several weeks ago the Inspector of Mental Health Services,
Susan Finnerty, said that only two regions out of 32 across Ireland has sufficient
mental health services.
Dr Finnerty's comments were in the annual report of the
Mental Health Commission.
Especial concern has been raised about the availability
of mental health services at weekends and after-hours.
Brian Howard, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland,
a support group, told irishhealth.com that
the Monageer tragedy highlighted deficiencies in out-of-hours services across
the country.
"It is a terrible tragedy and the facts are just emerging," Mr
Howard said. "But the point is that out-of-hours services by the state
are a common deficiency."
He said that Dr Finnerty's report referred to the need
for multi-disciplinary teams to handle mental health crises, which MHI supports
fully.
Mr Howard also said that in a risk situation, the only
certain act could be to have a person admitted to an inpatient facility. "But
this is not ideal for all eventualities," he said.
Irishhealth.com runs a Depression Clinic in partnership
with Aware, the depression help organisation. It is at …
http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/depression/index.html
